Reminiscence
by Rhagar
Summary: On a cold winter night, the Fateless One reflects on the events following her resurrection and her newfound status as Archsage. Everything has settled down but two individuals from her recent past have decided this same night would be a good time for a visit. Seriously, seems like no one can respect a little bit of privacy nowadays! Definitely Fateless One/Ciara Sydanus. One-shot.


Disclaimer: KoA: Reckoning and everything in it is not mine. Instead, it's Rhode Island's property.

This is just a small one-shot I wrote for the KoA archive section. I liked the game, especially the combat system and I thought I'd try to write something small for the franchise.

Just a heads up, this turned out to be a definitely Ciara x Fateless One. Well, it's a rare pairing and seeing as KoA section is quite small, I can say I'm the first one to write this pairing.

Happy Christmas and happy New Year, everyone! Let's hope 2014 is a better years than 2013 was.

* * *

**Reminiscence**

Alyana boredly flipped through the pages of an old tome in her chambers. Being the Archsage definitely had its perks but the underground facility meant only for her, while grand and certainly interesting enough, was buried underground and there were some times when she preferred to gaze at the sky and relax a little, such as this time.

Therefore, she had decided she would have another chamber for her in the upper floor of one of the towers, with a balcony in case she had the desire to enjoy a little breeze. It was certainly a comfy and warm room, quite big and with all the comforts she could wish. Their finances had been better off than she'd ever expected when she assumed her new office but she didn't complain.

She sighed a little, pushing away a single lock of white silverish hair that had covered her eye. Soon enough winter would reach them, signifying the year of the end of the Crystal War and she was still coming to terms with some things that happened then. To this day, she still had nightmares about them. Tirnoch had been one of those things but whenever she thought about it rationally, she couldn't help but shake her head at so much secrecy from Alyn Shir's mysterious order for something like this.

Yes, she was very powerful but she had defeated her, right? It hadn't been as ridiculously hard as she'd expected, although perhaps the fact she was the Fateless One had helped to smooth things over. It had been one of the hardest battles she'd participated in, that was for sure, but not the struggle against unbeatable odds Alyn Shir seemed to think it would be.

Alyana let her gaze wonder around until it settled absently on the fire merrily cracking in the home. It had taken some time to get to the end of her quest, of her adventure against Fate. She'd done it but at some points it became obvious to her that her own body acted as if it had been conditioned, born and bred to fight and kill. She was scared by it for the longest time, because she knew it was a fundamental trait of herself and not like pieces of armor, which you could put on or get rid of whenever you wanted.

Those fears were long gone thankfully, and she had gained confidence in her skills over time. And besides, entering the Reckoning state (as she'd come to call it) was nothing short of badass every time she did it, so at least there was an upside to it. A rather big one, she'd say.

Therefore, it wasn't surprising she was prideful on her honed battle skills, gained on the strife of war and struggle. There was a certain joy in the battle that made her cry of joy with all the adrenaline pumping through her system, feeling more alive than ever.

She didn't reject a good chance to chill down and relax from time to time, though. After all, rest was a very much needed thing for the body, even if her new duties as the Scholia Arcana's new Archsage took most of her time nowadays.

Alyana smiled, proud of her accomplishments. The School had come a great way since she'd taken office. The garden for reactive agents had been expanded a little bit with new ingredients Alyana found during her travels all over the Faelands, allowing for the creation of more different potions. The new bussiness of potion sales was coming along nicely.

She was especially proud of the mages specializing in elemental techniques with the idea of being able to hold their own in a fight as well. They were unusually driven and dedicated to learn everything they could and their determination knew no bounds and Alyana couldn't help but respect them for that.

Contrary to what she expected, Alyana found herself enjoying teaching them, _her_ students. It was even useful to her, since constant practice of her magic abilities allowed her to greatly improve her own ability of teleportation. Now she could easily teleport from one extreme of Rathir to the other without even feeling the toll on her stamina, which resulted in a really handy ability whenever she was in a rush or simply didn't want to enjoy the scenery in her travels.

After all, improving and honing her own magical abilities was as rewarding and exciting as the first time she discovered her magic since her resurrection.

Another surprise had been her quickly growing friendship with Urthan Nara. The dokkalfar sagecrafter was more powerful than most thought and Alyana found it oddly enjoyable to help her become a Savant. She was improving by leaps and already she was gaining the recognition of some of them. Though it still was quite a bit away, the time for her trial was steadily nearing closer.

"You seem to be pensive again, my friend. Thinking about these last months?" a sudden, rich voice cut through her musings, almost startling her.

With a glance, she easily recognized the ancient but still beautifully crafted garments of the Dark Empyrean, Ciara Sydanus, the powerful witch that had been trapped under the Scholia Arcana for over three centuries. She was leaning infuriatingly against the wall, near the home, with a lazy smirk plastered on her face and her arms crossed. Every time she saw her she wasn't sure if she wanted to throttle or welcome her.

"You again? I thought I made clear that we were not to meet again last time," she muttered. "And this is my private chamber. You could at least respect my privacy."

"That you did, _Archsage_," Ciara drawled, clearly amused at what she perceived as a silly title, "but I guess you weren't forceful enough. And we both know you love me being here, so your second point is moot. Should you _really _want me out, there would be some kind of ward against me. It would have proved useless, of course, but the fact that there isn't one or several for that matter speaks volumes by itself. Haven't you made up your mind about my offer, anyway?" She asked, a tilted smile on her face.

"To join up with you and conquer all of Amalur? No, thank you. I already dealt with a tyrant. I don't have the desire to become one myself. And you know that if you try that, I will come to stop you; if nothing else, because you'd be threatening my current home." She deadpanned as she buried her face on her book. However, Ciara wouldn't have any of it. Using her magical prowess, which was noticeably stronger than hers, as much as Alyana hated to admit it, she grabbed hold of the book and flung it away.

"Now, now, none of that, my dear. Why would I do such a thing? Wasn't it you who spared my life? Besides, I only would have Erathell, the Faelands and even all of Amalur as long as I had you at my side."

Alyana sighed, indicating that their conversation was far more usual than she would have wanted.

"When we battled it out and I won, I sneaked you out of Rathir and let you live just to give you another chance. I was sick of killing and endangering all those innocent students caught in the middle of our struggle when they had done nothing to you. I thought that as long as you didn't stir trouble again, you could be left alone. But your insistence about this is getting on my nerves. Why won't you let me be?"

As soon as she uttered those words, Ciara smashed her lips upon Alyana's, throwing her on the bed while running her hands through Alyana's mane of white silverish hair. Caught off guard for a moment, The Fateless One let Ciara tease her with her tongue, just as many other times before, but immediately threw her off her to the side with a grunt, her breath already ragged.

"Because we both know you long for me. Just as I do for you," was Ciara's simple response, as she stretched on the bed with feline grace. She however huffed with slight exasperation. "Your power amazes me. It's perhaps one of the few mysteries truly worth discovering how it works. It's as mysterious and fascinating as the Deep Gloam age but you'll never let me study or analyze it. And you wonder again why I can't seem to keep away for too long? It certainly would be hilarious if anyone of your precious little underlings found out about your affair with me, though." Ciara commented with an amused smirk.

Alyana simply scoffed at her words. "There's nothing between us, Ciara."

"Are you sure? Allow me the right to doubt that affirmation," her voice dropped to a mere sensual whisper as she started to caress softly Alyana's skin, grinning like a Chesire cat when Alyana's body responded to her touch. "After all, you have not rejected me outright not even once and have never avoided my kisses, when we both know it is well within your abilities."

"Aren't you supposed to be a mad tyrant, butcher of thousands? You're acting like a love-struck teenage." Alyana groused, trying to get a rise out of Ciara but said witch merely smirked at the Fateless One.

"Just because I went on a rampage to control _my_ lands as their rightful Queen, that doesn't mean I'm batshit crazy. I still hold all my mental capabilities, you know. Change is often a bloody, violent thing. Without it, society becomes stagnant, corruption soon will break out unless the whole structure is periodically checked or everything falls apart at the seams. Furthermore, who said those book gave a realistic portrayal of me? I could have been considered a tyrant at worst, but I certainly didn't use my subjects for dark rituals nor did I start to crave the endless spilling of blood like a bloodthirsty niskaru, regardless of what history books tell. Did you know that Eleanor Brea was never born in a prison, like those filthy books tell? Oh, no, she was very much born outside of it, as a free woman, and not just as a mere nobody. Many things were hushed up from what I've seen. Remember, the victors write history. Nobody said they necessarily wrote the truth. But regardless of all that, is it so hard to believe I haven't done anything bad in all this time, though?"

Alyana didn't say anything, preferring to keep silent least she said something she'd come to regret later on.

"Dishing out the silent treatment, huh? I feel like I'm supposed to sleep on the couch now," Ciara chuckled amusedly, still keeping the act as if they were sentimentally together.

'_Aren't we, though?' _Alyana couldn't help but muse. After all, Ciara was right. She had never avoided her surprisingly soft caresses or her heated kisses and looking back, she couldn't find the reason for not doing it.

However, her musings were cut short when Ciara struck again, this time straddling her with her hips. The dark haired dokkalfar had lust shining in her eyes as she stared at Alyana's attractive curves, courtesy of her nightgown.

"My, my… How _naughty_ of you. I don't think you understand just how tantalizing you are to me right now. I can see…_ everything!" _She purred before diving for Alyana's neck.

The Hero of Mel Senshir moaned as she gripped the sheets of her bed, trying to fight back the waves of pleasure that she was receiving from Ciara's ministrations. It would be so easy to give in to the warm sensations that coursed through her body. Ciara kneaded her right breast with wanton desire and Alyana knew it wouldn't be long until she demanded more. It would be the first time something like this happened, if she did, but a part of her, certainly bigger than she'd expected, knew she would never regret it…

Thankfully for her, she managed to cut through the pleasure and desire she was experiencing and let out a growl but Ciara read her intentions like an open book and flashed to the armrest of one of the armchairs in front of the home before the blast of concentrated magic Alyana released could harm her.

"You are a tough nut to crack, my love, but rest assured I will get through you and when I do, I won't let you go. I won't give up until you admit your feelings for me. Together, nothing will be able to stop us." She proclaimed with an annoyingly charming smile before she disappeared from plain view.

Alyana didn't bother searching for her. Ciara was in command of powers even she really didn't know about or understood and even now to this day, she had the hunch that the ancient mage hadn't used all her powers during their fight. Nonetheless, it was assured she was gone from Rathir by now, off to whatever place held her interest for so long until moving on.

It wouldn't be the last time she showed up around, though, and that Alyana wasn't sure whether shudder in horror or sigh in anticipation.

Still with her breath labored, Alyana took a deep breath to calm down. It surprisingly worked but every time she found it harder to not give into Ciara's seduction. It was hard not to think just how good it felt to embrace her and kiss her and… and….

Ugh, she needed a damn bloody break.

Getting up from bed, she walked barefoot to a small cupboard with several bottles of liquor and alcohol. A week ago, Agarth had sent her two bottles of a strong wine from Tala-Rane that certainly packed a strong punch. He'd attached a short note to one of them, saying he would stop by two weeks later to celebrate the first year of peace. There was still a week left, so she guessed she could start with the first one.

Whatever helped getting her mind off her complicated life was okay in her book.

Grabbing a glass, she started to drink. The wine sure was strong and it burned her throat but the taste was… pretty good, with a small undertone of bitterness at the end. Over all, a pretty good wine. She'd have to congratulate Agarth for his find. Ge really knew how to get them.

She lost herself in the automatic action of drinking and refilling her glass as time passed but sleep, it seemed, didn't want to take hold of herself.

"My, aren't you drinking yourself to a stupor?" another horribly familiar voice sounded, cutting the silence like a knife cuts hot butter.

For her part, Alyana merely grunted. She was beginning to feel tipsy already. "Alyn Shir. Seems like today is invade on Alyana's privacy day." She muttered, feeling rather annoyed at the whole situation already. "What do you want?"

"Why, can't you believe I have merely come to check up on you?"

Alyana couldn't help but bark a laugh at Alyn's remark. "Even with all the alcohol in my system I can tell that's a lie. You're lowering your standards. Try again."

Alyn merely ignored her rude behavior and spared a glance at the bottle. "A Sarté 2004 from Tala-Rane? Interesting choice," she commented as she picked up the note, "though coming for Agarth, I wouldn't expect less."

"You're starting to… annoy me." Alyana hiccuped and Alyn couldn't help but wonder how in the hell did she manage to form coherent sentences when it was obvious she was drunk. "Any other day I'd be all… for some banter but not now. What do you want?"

"How snappish. Didn't you end the war almost single-handedly? Shouldn't you be happy about it?" Alyn prodded the Champion of the Arena but she merely snorted.

"We both know many more wars will break out long after we're dead. Empires will rise and fall and even then, life will go on. We're just a small footnote in the grand book of history."

"Rather nihilistic of you, don't you think?"

Alyana shrugged it off. "Could be the alcohol, might make me be all philosophic."

"Well, since you're obviously not up for some friendly banter, I'll get to the point, then. There's been an uprising of magical output at some point around The Hollowlands. I assumed you'd be bored enough that a change of scenery would be a welcome surprise."

"The Hollowlands? There's nothing there but ancient bones, dust, sand, sand and more sand. No thanks, I'll pass."

"Aren't you the least interested? The readings we've got are quite unlike anything we've seen."

"We, huh? That little secretive order of yours again? You realize you still haven't told me anything about it, don't you?"

"And what good would it do you knowing more? Even if you previously belonged to it, we have to ensure our inexistent status and should you ever talk about Tirnoch, we'd be forced to kill you. To everyone else, Gadflow was the one pulling the strings all along and we're content to let them think that. And besides, the new you is quite the improvement from your past self, except during one of your rare moody phases… such as this one, for example." Alyn smiled.

"Charming," Alyana sarcastically replied. They stayed in silence for a moment before she spoke up again. "You realize it's past midnight right now, right? Do you really want to go, right now?"

"Why not, fewer questions asked this way and less people to see us depart. Besides, it's not like you haven't traveled during night before." She rebated, crossing her arms.

Alyana only made a muttered sound of annoyance before hiccuping again. "I never traveled at night during winter. Too bloody cold outside… Alright, I'll go, if only so you just can get out of my hair sooner than later."

"Why, don't you enjoy my company?"

"I normally would, but you caught me in a bad mood. And I'm drunk, even if it doesn't show. Don't act surprised if I try to battle it out at some point."

"I'll keep that in mind," was Alyn's dry response.

With a grumble, Alyana got up from her armchair and quickly donned the robes Ciara had sent to her as a gift. She hated to admit it but they were superior than anything she could produce at the moment. When asked, she merely responded that crafting her own robes and magical weapons had become a hobby for her. Either way, they gave her quite the magical boost and she wasn't as prideful as to reject such an useful gift… Even if it came from Ciara herself.

With a mere flare of mana, a pair of gleaming blood-red prismere chakrams flew to her back, resting softly onto the special bands created for holding them in place. Those chakrams were perhaps one of her finer creations to date and she would be lying if she said she wasn't extremely proud of the end result.

They were a masterpiece of lighting element, dealing massive shocking damage after the immediate attack hit home. Moreover, she had managed to apply an Oracle's Gem to the chakrams in order to augment her already impressive mana reserves. Even though it was an amazing accomplishment for a blacksmith, she still thought there was more room for improvement and she was eager to see just how much she could improve the crafting.

"I can't believe I'm getting pulled into this… And here I was, just minding my own business…" Alyana grumbled, glaring not so subtly at Alyn, who didn't give any outward reaction to her companion's baleful stare.

"Ah, but we both know you love the thrill of an adventure."

"… Tch, I hate it when you're right about these things."

"I usually am. So, all set?"

"Almost. Let me write letters to some people. When they see I haven't showed up around the faculty, they'll search the room. This way, they won't launch a massive campaign to find me, even if they know I like to disappear for a while, from time to time." The Archsage explained, already sobered from all the alcohol she'd drunk.

Alyn wondered once again how she did it. It was certainly a useful trick.

Alyana quickly wrote two letters. One for Eran Methneen, who acted as an overseer of sorts whenever Alyana was away; be it for Scholia Arcana's business or just chilling out. He'd inform everyone that needed to know she wouldn't be around for a few weeks tops. He was certainly thorough like that, which Alyana couldn't help but appreciate.

The other letter was for Urthan, to let her know personally that she wouldn't be around to help her for some time. As such, she was to practice her spells and look for books in the library for any topic she felt could be interesting to study with the intention to debate with her over them when she returned. The letter was perhaps a bit unnecessary but Alyana didn't want her to think she just left like that. She was a good friend, after all.

Having folded the parchments and written the names on them, she set the letters on the small table, where they could be easily seen.

"It's done. Any ideas about getting to the Hollowlands?"

"Why, we'll go the old fashioned way, of course. We'll walk."

"Wonderful."

"Sarcasm doesn't really suit you, my friend."

"So I've been told. Couldn't care less right now, though."

"I see that trying to strike up a conversation with you is going to be harder than expected. Let's not dawdle anymore then, let's go."

There is always new to be done, Alyana mused as they stealthily made their way out of Rathir. She just hoped it would be something worth the effort, in any case.

'_No rest for the wicked, it seems'_.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And done. I'm not exactly what could this be classified as, but perhaps I'm trying too much to label my own work. As long as it works, I guess…

Still, I hope you guys liked it enough and be kind enough to leave some reviews. It would be nice! This little one-shot just sprung to the forefront of my mind. I toyed with the idea of writing an actual, several/many chapters-wise story, but soon realized that with real life, I could only focus on The Forgotten, my Naruto x Dragon Age crossover.

But enough of that. As usual, if you find any typo or mistake contact me and I'll quickly fix it.

Ja ne, guys!


End file.
